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Leo Kor
27 years ago, a man in a small nameless village slept with an elven woman, she left in the morning, returning to her home and the man never even thought of her again, remembering it as only a nice night with a beautiful woman. The elven woman however, thought of the man rather often over the next 9 months, usually something along the lines of: 'That man did this to me, he's gonna deal with the consequences.' After giving birth to their child, the elven woman returned to the village, or she thought it was the right village, all human dwellings look the same anyway. She gathered the villagers around the square and told them that a human man had put this child in her and they should take responsibility for the child. She put the baby boy in the arms of one of the village elders and left, never to return. The old man looked at the child in his arms, pale skinned, fair orange hair just beginning to grow in, pointed ears, eyes green as the trees looking up at him, and decided that this boy needed cared for, espacially if his own mother wouldn't do it. The old man went door to door asking if any of the men in the village had slept with an elf. None would admit to it. None would take the child. Eventually, the old man took the child to his own home, little more than a shack at the edge of town and decided to take him in as his own. The old man, Rorick, was a retired ranger turned trapper, spending most of his time in the woods hunting and skinning animals for pelts to sell. Rorick laid the baby down in a makeshift bed, a crate with some furs to keep him warm, got some milk from his goat, and fed it to the child. It was then that he noticed a name on the baby's blanket. "Kor." he scoffed "What kind of name is that? Kid looks like a Leo to me. Leo Kor, that'll do for 'im." Childhood Rorick raised Leo as he would his own son, taking him wherever he went, including on long hunting trips into the woods. Leo's favorite childhood memories take place in these woods. Where Rorick taught him to respect the forest and it's wildlife. Where he learned how to kill an animal quickly and painlessly and how to skin and cook it so as to waste none of the animal's body. Where he learned basic magic and archery. It was also where Rorick died. When Leo was ten years old, he and Rorick went out into the woods on a routine hunting trip, they talked about what plants they saw and what uses they could have, what was edible and what was poison, what animals went with the tracks or sounds they heard, all the usual topics of conversation. The weather was fair for the first few days, but on the fifth day in the woods, a storm rolled in. The two took turns tending the fire to make sure it stayed lit, alternating tending the fire and napping in the tent. During Leo's turn to tend the fire, lightning hit a nearby dead tree, causing it to fall and catch fire, Leo was startled by the thunder and heard cracking wood, he turned to see the flaming tree falling towards their camp. He cried out as it hit the ground, crushing the tent with Rorick still inside. When the tree's fire was put out, all Leo could find of Rorick was a red ooze seeping out from under the tree. Heartbroken and nowhere near strong enough to move the tree, he simply piled dirt over the section of tree where the tent had been and placed the biggest rock he could carry on top. Upon returning to town, he was met with confused glances and wary stares. All wondering why this young child was returning from the woods alone. Leo went to Rorick's house cried. Then he did the only thing he knew to do. He carried on with his training, going on hunting trips alone and selling furs to the townspeople, practicing his magic in the woods. The townspeople whispered rumors that it was he who had killed Rorick and told their children to avoid the shack on the edge of town, but they could not prove their rumors and so they let him be. Life in the Woods Even though Leo has a house in the village, Karsted , his real home is the forest. Over the years he's spent travelling and hunting in the forest, he has befriended a few of the animals that live there. He understands them much better than he understands other humanoids, though he still cares for the inhabitants of the village and knows each one by sight, if not by name. Over the sixteen years since Rorick died, Leo has grown into quite the young hunter. His archery skills have greatly improved and he has practiced his magic and learned a few low level spells to perfection. Though if you were to ask Leo, he'd tell you his greatest achievement happened a little over a year ago, the day he met his best friend. It was a day like any other, Leo was walking through the woods when he heard a shout, then the roar of a bear. Leo drew his bow and ran towards the noise, he soon saw a swordsman defending himself against a large blackbear. After a brief moment to take in the situation, Leo ran to intercept the combat and used his understanding of animals to calm the bear and send her on her way. As she turned to leave, the man Leo had just rescued fired a crossbow bolt into her head, killing her instantly. Furious, Leo turned to the man, demanding to know why he would shoot the bear when she was leaving. His reply; "It's a bear, what's the big deal? One less monster to worry about in the woods." Leo was shocked at this statement, how could anyone see such a beautiful creature and call it a monster? Leo glared at the man and told him coldly; "The only monster I see here is you. Get out of this forest and pray I never see you again. For if I do, I'll be putting an arrow through your head, just like you did to this poor creature." The man raised an eyebrow at Leo, confused at his rescuer's sudden anger, but not wishing another fight, he turned and walked away, back towards his home. Leo turned to look at the bear's body, and it was then that he heard a noise that broke his heart, the cry of a baby bear as it walked out of the woods to find it's mother dead. The cub couldn't be more than a few months old, just barely out of the winter den, not yet weaned off of it's mother's milk. Leo picked up the bear cub and took him to his campsite, he waited until the cub was asleep and then returned to bury the mother bear. When he returned to camp, Leo started packing up, for if he was going to raise a bear cub, he'd need milk, and he'd need to get that milk from the village. He wrapped the bear cub in a blanket and carried it into the village, stopping at one of the farms to buy a goat for milking, as Rorick's old goat had died years ago. He took the cub back to his house and laid it down in the same crate Leo had used as a bed for the first few months of his life, he looked at the bear, and decided upon a name, "I'll call you Roaric, after my adopted father." he whispered to the sleeping form, then he went to milk the goat. He spent the next few months raising Roaric, then he took him back out into the woods to release him during his next hunting trip, Roaric wouldn't leave, he wanted to stay with Leo. The two became hunting partners, Leo trained Roaric to listen to simple commands and they learned to fight together. They became inseperable friends. Life as a Chosen One In Karsted's annual Spring harvest festival, Leo participated in all four events, the archery contest, the crafting contest, the staff fight, and the riding competition. While he placed fairly high in all events, he only came first in the riding competition. As such he didn't win the harvest cloak. Upon returning to Rorick's old shack for the night, Leo heard a knock at the door, he answered it to find a goatman's hoof pounding into his chest. The goatman was joined by three other animal headed beings and they attacked Leo. Leo and Roaric managed to kill one of them before being rescued by a visiting mage lady that had been in town for the festival. As they left Leo's hut, the bells of Karsted began to ring, the village was under attack. Leo and the mage lady went to the source of the bells to find a young cavelier ringing them, he was also met by a sourceror and a paladin. Together they beat off a group of the animal-headed-people and were told that these freaks were attacking because of these four young men, that they were the chosen ones and must leave Karsted or risk another attack. Together the group set out upon the world, heading to Davensport of Donetski. Leo then tripped on an anthill and cracked his skull open. He is now the chosen dead one. Category:Browse Category:Character